
One of the significant moments in my life was realizing that my Tribe was looking out for me. And if I allowed them they could be a vast source of growth in my life.
Historically one of the significant selling points of small groups is fellowship. Come hang out and meet other people like you. I get this. I’ve lived this. It’s actually really interesting to navigate the waters of new friendship, share a meal and perhaps a story. Fellowship is sitting with those who are like me in some way and sharing life to a certain extent.
But what also seems to arise in any small group is the wall of the “real”. I’m a broken human being learning to follow Jesus. And if the intent of the group is simply fellowship, and even a simple Bible study, I’m likely not going to get to the reality that I’m broken. In fact I am likely to hide my brokenness from those around me. Fellowship then becomes a dance around my brokenness and stuff, me hoping they won’t notice when I slip up. And in return, I won’t call out their brokenness too. We’ll learn the right answers that allows everyone to nod their head in agreement. But we’ll all subtly yet even unconsciously agree not to address significant issues in our life.
If this sounds familiar, this was most of my life in small groups. And there is a true desire for friendship in these groups. I still to this day have a significant amount of good friends who have come from groups like these, people I can call and say hi.
But what I never knew was the radical brilliance of what Jesus created when he said, “Come Follow Me.” This single statement changed my life. It was a three word calling into my heart to go beyond the simple fellowship of small groups and into what it means to engage God’s mission of restoration. The call to follow meant to take up the practice of love, to deal with my broken heart, my wounds and my fears. And to do that I needed a tribe, a group deeply committed to restoration. I needed my people.
And when I did I realized what some call communitas, a group living in the liminal space of restoration, deeply committed to something together, something good, something whole. And at the center of that mission was our hearts. There’s a tremendous power that comes from a group willing to step into the chaos and eventually past it. What once held us back became a chapter in our story of overcoming. Instead of looking at each other as the problem, we could begin to see our brokenness as the problem. As it was the tribe’s responsibility to hold and help restore each others dignity.
To follow meant going beyond the right answer and into the real answer so we could then live the right answer. It meant taking little step towards the cross, to discover what the other side of death looked like. It meant discovering not just the life and death of Jesus, but the resurrection part. It was a strange but deeply rewarding process.
And at one point I remember looking around at my brother’s, my tribe, and realizing that they loved me. They were the face of God for me. They were reflecting Jesus back to me. And it was good.
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